


No more letters

by Dusklatte



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Long-Distance Relationship, Love Letters, Post-Golden Deer Route (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Sexual content in chapter 2
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:14:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22992289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dusklatte/pseuds/Dusklatte
Summary: “His Majesty of Almyra himself has requested that I carry this letter over the border to Her Majesty of Fódlan in the city of Derdriu.”Hilda had to rub at her temples for a moment, before sighing and giving a quick ‘run along then’ hand gesture to the courier who had been stopped as they tried to cross Fódlan’s Throat.That had been the fourth such messenger that week.
Relationships: My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 1
Kudos: 53





	No more letters

**Author's Note:**

> I'm in a 'write yourself fluff and smut it's your birthday tomorrow' mood... And I'm also half asleep. I'm hoping I don't regret starting this when I wake up tomorrow morning because I'm quite literally posting this first part as soon as I've finished writing it...

“Ugh… Not another one! Please tell me that you weren’t sent here by-”

“His Majesty of Almyra himself has requested that I carry this letter over the border to Her Majesty of Fódlan in the city of Derdriu.”

Hilda had to rub at her temples for a moment, before sighing and giving a quick ‘run along then’ hand gesture to the courier who had been stopped as they tried to cross Fódlan’s Throat. When they had disappeared with a few of the guards who would escort them out of the Locket onto Fódlan’s side of the border, she whined as she fell back onto a wooden seat.

That had been the _fourth_ such messenger that week, and all because of her former professor and classmate. Byleth and Claude would write letters to one-another almost _non-stop_ , and the fact that she had been left in charge of checking anyone who crossed the border between Fódlan and Almyra meant that she had very much felt like a middle-man in the situation.

She had only held this role for a few weeks, and already she was close to screaming at their messengers to tell them to just meet up and talk like normal people. But Hilda also knew that it would be difficult for the two to do that – Byleth was inundated with new duties as she helped the people of Fódlan accept the new united rule over the country, whilst Claude had, unbeknownst to her up until his coronation, been very busy in charge of leading Almyra.

Come that night, when it was time for Hilda to retire for the night and to attend an evening meal, she felt a huge sense of relief when she saw only two people sat at the table in the fortress’ dining hall. “Holst! Baltie! Oh thank the Goddess that you’re both here!” After her particularly exaggerated shout, she pulled a chair out and slumped down onto it. “It happened _again_ today… Again!”

Both men exchanged a confused look, before Balthus scratched at his sideburns as he let out a puzzled noise. “You’ve gotta be clearer, Hilda… We haven’t got a clue what you’re goin’ on about.”

Hilda scowled, before she reached out for the plate of food which had been left aside for her. “It’s the Professor and Claude again! They’re sending _far too many_ letters! Every other person I have to check when they cross the border has been sent by one of them to give a message to the other!”

There was an awkward silence at the table, aside from the noises of Hilda using a fork against her plate, and the sounds of Holst and Balthus having their drinks.

“Is it really such a bad thing that they are communicating, Hilda? I have seen people who live in the same house as their lover whilst they barely utter a word to one another – that they are doing it over a distance is quite inspiring.”

The atmosphere did soften slightly when Holst gave his perspective, before Hilda placed her cutlery down and shook her head. “It’s not bad… just really, _really_ time-consuming. I have letters of my own to write-”

“To get me and Holst to write for you-” Balthus was silenced by Hilda placing a finger against his lips.

“Shush, Baltie,” she lowered her finger, before sighing. “I have to check the backgrounds of the messengers even though the Professor and Claude likely already have, before filling in a _mountain_ of paperwork _every single time_ one of them crosses the border… They may be happy communicating over letter – and I do support them if they want to do that – but it has an impact on a lot of other people when they do...”

The rest of the mealtime passed in complete silence. It ended with Hilda joining in with the drinking that Holst and Balthus were partaking in.

When she finished her drink, her eyes widened as she let out a quiet gasp. “I have an idea! But I will need help from the two of you… I’ll even take on the work of you both in return for your help.”

  
  


* * *

* * *

  
  


Byleth was mid-yawn when she heard a light tapping noise against the door of the room of her study in her home in Derdriu. The room was once Claude’s personal library, and had a few of his personal touches to the layout and organisation, so she quite enjoyed doing work in there.

“Your Majesty?” The voice of one of her workers could be made out through the cracks in the door, and unfortunately, she knew that she couldn’t just blank them out due to the candlelight which was also escaping through said cracks. “You have a visitor with a message.”

Her eyes widened at hearing about the message, so without hesitation, she jumped up and pulled the door open. “A message? Is it from Claude?” Her sudden eagerness – a rarely witnessed emotion of hers – appeared to frighten the worker, who had gone pale as they frantically shook their head.

“N- No, my lady… It is Holst Goneril. He claims to have a message from his sister, requesting your presence at Fódlan's Throat over suspicious activity at the border...”

She was silent for a moment as her shoulders dropped, before she nodded. It would be a nice opportunity for her to send her response to Claude’s most recent letter directly at the border. “Right. Tell Holst that I will need about an hour to prepare, and if he can wait for that time we can return to Fódlan's Throat together.”

Once the worker had nodded and left, Byleth held her hand against her chest and closed her eyes. Going to the border would be the closest she had been to Claude ever since his short visit a few months earlier, when he saved both her and Derdriu from falling at the hands of those who wished for the Adrestian Empire to be restored.

“Claude...”

  
  


* * *

* * *

  
  


Balthus couldn’t quite believe his eyes when he found himself at the Almyran castle. Not because of the intricacies of the decoration, the wonderful looking drinks, or even the presence of the long-missing Tiana von Riegan who had given her greetings as he was taken past her by some guards, but because of how much he had been missing out on during his years in Abyss and on the run from debt collectors.

The Almyrans were fighters, and he was surrounded by the best of them when he entered the castle. Their strength was clear as day. And if it weren’t for his task from Hilda, he would have jumped at the chance to fight with them. _If he had just known that Claude could have introduced him to this-_

“Ah, I should have known that when the guards were telling me that a ‘Fódlan man calling himself the _King of Grappling’_ was wanting to see me that it would be you, Balthus...” His musings were disturbed when he found himself almost face-to-face with Claude, who was stood there with a raised eyebrow and folded arms. “I hope you’re here for a reason completely unrelated to debts, Balthus. I can’t help you out with any of your problems from Fódlan here.”

He felt quite shocked at Claude’s presumption, before he smirked and shook his head. “Nope, I’m not here for any of that. I’m here because Hilda needs you at Fodlan’s Throat. Some suspicious goings on there, and because you’re the king of Almyra it’s only right that you give advice on the goings on at the Almyran side.”

Claude was quite surprised at Balthus’ reason for his presence, before he frowned and nodded. Hilda had dealt with problems going on at both sides of the border very well before now – there had to have been some sort of ulterior motive for his presence being needed. But at the same time… Fodlan’s throat was near to Byleth. He could easily make a quick trip to see her for one day if he went there…

“Fine, I’ll see what Hilda needs then. Just let me get my wyvern ready-” He then paused as he turned around, before glancing back. “Do you need a ride back to the border? I’m sure that there’s a few wyverns which could be spared...”

“Hmm? Nah, think I’ll stick around here for a while…”

“And leave Hilda in your debt for sending you to get me?”

“… Oh, crap… Yeah, that’s a good point… But perhaps I’ll return back here afterwards. Almyran culture seems like something I can get down with.”


End file.
